jainen

>>seeing their point of view about it all<< I can think of a few points. The discount is a general response to soaring collection costs. You lost that advantage when you re-engaged the billing office by forwarding that check. You can't expect to keep the early payment discount when you actually paid later. If there is some financial benefit, who should get it--the patient who had full coverage, the insurance company that collected premiums based on full costs, or the medical provider? Medical ethics are as complex as any in our society. I am optimistic that the Obama administration will begin to address this kind of issue. Meanwhile, I recommend that you focus on getting excellent treatment for your family and let the accountants do whatever they are going to do anyway. And thank God that you even HAVE insurance, however convoluted the paperwork is.

>>A citizen can't just give us any piece of marble<< Of course he can't. How do we know he isn't a terrorist hiding a bomb he wants to smuggle into our nation's capital? I'll bet that's it. Probably marble, which is a dense limestone like the mountains they bury nuclear waste in, absorbs radiation so you can't detect the WMD stashed inside.

>>I thought we alway had to midnight at center where we file.<< You have until midnight in your OWN time zone. The filing center will issue an electronic postmark. The drain time is irrelevant.

>> ?????????????????????? << I've seen these little hooks in a lot of posts. Could someone please explain what they are supposed to mean? Are they some kind of internet message symbol like the smiley face things?

>>this inexperience in itself does not warrant any member of fraternity question my ethics<< Sorry. I removed the word ethics from my post because the main point of your question was the scope of your license, not standards of professional conduct. The answer, as Joel says, varies by state so you should ask your licensing board. If you get a green light, then you can deal with the issues of providing such a technically complex service to a client.

>>preparing custom made operating agreement<< Surely this post is tongue-in-cheek. mircpa wouldn't seriously ask such a question if he had experience in this sort of thing, i.e., already knew the answer. And obviously the client is likewise a newbie, or at least doesn't have any regular way to get the job done. So the proposition is: Should this custom contract for running commercial real estate with multiple partners be drafted by someone who doesn't even know if he is licensed for the task?

>>he has done many 1031 exchanges<< In my experience, "done" usually means "know of" and "many" usually means "more than zero." But if he is so studied on the subject, why can't he cite some authority? Section 1031 is one of the very oldest parts of the tax code, so there is more than seventy years of court rulings. Ask him to explain specifically how he plans to avoid the "step doctrine" while selling the boot in a parallel transaction. Ask him under what legal theory that old agreement "is controlling" the current fair MARKET value required by IRC Section 1031. Ask him what legal relevance that agreement even has, since A has not died and is not selling the property. Well, maybe I am second-guessing the paper guy.

>>I have posted this before<< For my part, if you ask the same question you will get the same answer. And mine was the only answer you got from this forum. To summarize, certainly the trade can involve unequal values. Proceeds from the transaction are allocated to the old and new properties by CURRENT fair market value. In general, I think the concept of holding for business/investment use is seriously compromised by the decades-long and recent personal intentions, but I will not second-guess the attorney who is reading and drafting the actual documents. Since you remain skeptical, have someone else look at the deal.

>>Is this correct?<< Nope. Of the one mil proceeds, you are only exchanging 200K. That leaves 800 big ones as various kinds of boot, which completely smothers any chance of 1031 because the gain was only 750. Take Section 121; pay tax on $650,000 capital gains.

>>i use prosystem<< Same company--ask your sales rep what is available.

>>to show off [customers] the racing ability of a Ferrari<< Obviously, because otherwise his customers wouldn't know about such an obscure vehicle! It's normal for a car dealer to splash his name around places where cars are needed. But actually racing is a whole 'nother activity. If he is trying to deduct racing as a sales expense, he'd better have extraordinary records. As his tax advisor, you owe him some serious research because there are a number of rulings on similar schemes.

>>110 1099's<< For a lot less than the cost of an employee, ATX software will scan and enter all that stuff automaticularly. http://www.atxinc.com/products/prod_xscanfill.aspx

>>"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action" -- George Washington<< If George is so smart, how come he didn't tell us this BEFORE we got into such a mess?

>>The unit is meant to show his significant talents to a potential customer.<< I have no problem with the paint job itself (production costs only, not the market value). But it is well established that putting advertising on a vehicle does not make the vehicle a business asset. There should be NO mileage whatsoever on such a bike--it should be transported to shows on a trailer because obviously he wouldn't risk fine art to the dings and fading of normal commute traffic. When I say extravagant, I mean it is going to take at least four similar jobs just to break even, so he'd better be looking at gross revenues of a couple hundred thousand. That's only possible if he has several employees. That's the business reality, but of course he is an artist first. So deduct the paint (or leave as COGS) and tell him to have fun with his toy.

>>He will not ride the motorcycle very much.<< One has to be a little skeptical of such a claim. Anyway, it's kind of expensive for a shop display. The rule is a business expense can't be extravagant, which means it has to be proportional to the income he can realistically hope it will generate. That's what you need to ask about.

>>How close to the house becoming a rental do they have to wait to make it a deductible rental expense vs a non-deductible homeowner expense?<< If they are trying to claim rental expenses during a period of personal use, it would be nice to wait until they can show some rental activity at least SOMEtime during the tax year.

>>He's a new client. We'll see if he comes back<< Ahh, well. Apparently he didn't go back to his last preparer. I wonder why not.

>>It was always the intent of the partners to treat the land as an asset of the ps<< In that case, I recommend they initiate the transfer as soon as convenient, because until they do so their intentions will be unfulfilled.

>>it appears to me... << Yes, but good luck with your client. He probably has some different math, like "The new property is worth $200 thousand and that's more than the total gain, so NONE of it is taxable and all the installment payments are tax-free too!" Then he'll go into a rant about paying for the most prestigious intermediary and all the lawyers that approved this. And the best reply you can muster will be, "Gee, I wish you had called ME first."

>>3rd party exchange done through intermediary<< I would not trust a client's description of this transaction. Insist on seeing ALL of the sale and exchange documents. My first impression is that only $75K went through the intermediary and into the replacement property. That leaves $200K as boot, which exceeds the $195K gain. By that math it is a fully taxable sale. Since no gain is deferred under Section 1031, you can ignore the exchange structure and report the entire thing as an installment in the ordinary way.

>> I meant disability payments<< Sorry, I should have recognized it as a software question. Hopefully someone else can cover it, otherwise check your help file or call tech support.

>>what I need to do to get rid of the e-file error message<< Simply delete the credit entirely. Since worker's comp payments are not taxable, repayment is not deductible.

>>provide software services for one of his client<< Clearly the taxpayer has California-source income from the business services provided within the state. What form of entity is it?

>>get instructions from Barr<< Thank you, everyone. I gathered my family and went to Grandma's, who still lives in the house I grew up in. A lovely day.

>>other treaty implications that I am not aware of? << Tax treaties are easy to find on line. http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/tax-policy/...ry/uktreaty.pdf